Carnarvon Capers

The sandstone gorges of Carnarvon National Park first captured my imagination as a teenager. For many years my grandmother gave me a subscription to Australian Geographic for my birthday. If truth be told I often didn't read much of the text, but I loved exploring different parts of the Australian landscape through the stunning photographs of the magazine. One of the stories that did leave a lasting impression was an article about an impressive gorge somewhere in Queensland. Twelve years later, I finally got to do some exploring of my own.

Carnarvon National Park is about nine hours drive north-west of Brisbane in the sandstone belt of Central Queensland. The long drive is rather flat and boring - our main entertainment was provided by a yokel who repeatedly mooned us from his car window! But we arrived with daylight to spare at the Takarakka campground, along with hundreds of other Easter visitors. For some strange reason the national parks campground is only open during school holiday periods, so the hordes descend during the same few weeks every year.


The park rangers hosted a Steve Irwin-style slideshow that evening highlighting the attractions of the park, complete with a vocal imitation of a sugar glider. They were keen to emphasise the potential dangers of venturing off the well-beaten track, with a 'do not go here or you will die' focus to their message. I suppose they get all types of visitors. On returning to our campsite we discovered that the people beside us had coloured Christmas lights adorning their tent!

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright. We dutifully signed the register for 'remote wilderness walkers', then started down a path that looked like it was maintained by rangers on quad bikes. Here the gorge is wide and spacious, with sides gently sloping up to 200m cliffs. The main walking track meanders along beside the creek, with regular crossings by way of conveniently placed stepping stones. Cabbage palms decorate the lower slopes while macrozamias and spotted gums contribute to a sense of majesty. But perhaps the loveliest parts of this gorge are to be found tucked away amongst the sandstone walls.

Aboriginal people are thought to have visited this gorge for over 20,000 years. One of the most significant sites is a place known as the Art Gallery. This magnificent overhang is backdrop to a beautiful and fragile reminder of the local Indigenous culture. We timed our arrival there with perfection, just in time for some story-telling and oral history of the area from a charming old gentleman of the Karingbal people. Elder Fred Conway explained that the entire gorge was a sacred area, reserved for ceremonies and special occasions rather than habitation. He spoke about the different types of artwork such as stencilling and engravings and the stories they tell, both personal and spiritual. I felt quite moved to witness a relict of this ancient culture, and to be present in a place that served both as a burial site and a birthing area.

In addition to the rich cultural heritage, Carnarvon is also made up of an intricate system of slot canyons. Compared with the Blue Mountains, the sandstone cliffs here are not as high, and so the canyons are not as deep and sustained. However a few exploratory walks in from the bottom indicated that they are just as narrow, and just as beautiful. Unfortunately these canyons will probably remain largely unexplored, as the management have a blanket ban on all rope sports within the national park.

We camped overnight at a big bend in the creek, about 10km up the gorge. It was a balmy evening shared with a handful of other campers. Bats flittered in and out of holes in the sandstone wall which shone with the white light of the full moon. The rain overnight soaked straight through our tent - it must be time to get a new one!

In the morning we wandered for a kilometre or so up Boowinda Gorge. Recent floods had scoured this impressive canyon clean. The mossy walls were separated only by a floor of pebbly stones, and intriguing clefts in the rock opened up every now and then on either side. Without finding the upper end of the gorge, we eventually decided to turn around and spent the rest of the afternoon retracing our steps back to the visitor centre. Back at camp, we enjoyed the last rays of a wonderfully peaceful afternoon lying on the grass with our books.


If Carnarvon was within three hours of Brisbane we would undoubtably be back to attempt some more remote off-track walks. And I'd be very tempted to pack a short length of rope, just in case! But I don't think we'll be making the long drive again anytime soon. Next time I hope we'll have a bit more time to explore, perhaps when we finally do the big road trip to the top end.

A year in paradise

It is my one year anniversary since moving to Brisbane. I've spent most of the year being quite negative about the sunshine state, so I thought it must be time to reflect on some of the fun stuff we've done in the past 12 months and share a few photos.

These were some of the highlights.....

We headed down to Girraween just before Easter last year. Stepping out of the car at 9 o'clock at night was quite a shock to our newly acclimatised selves. Time to bring out the down jackets! We spent a very pleasant weekend wandering amongst wonderful rock formations and surveying the granite belt from amazing rocky outcrops. We stopped in Stanthorpe on the way home and filled our car with fresh market produce. My only regret is not making it to Applethorpe. Despite never having been there, this small country town is my favourite place in all of Queensland, mainly because it consistently records the lowest overnight temperature in the state, but also because it has such a great name!



Springbrook National Park is an old favourite. It is the wettest part of South East Queensland, and home to lush rainforest, stunning waterfalls, lots of lyrebirds and pademelons. I thought this old strangler fig looked quite spectacular in the morning mist - quite eerie and Tolkienish. We also found a massive carpet python that had recently devoured a small marsupial sunning itself in the middle of the path, and the biggest yabby I have ever seen!









Paddling on Pumistone Passage is a great excuse for a cruisy weekend. This narrow body of water separates Bribie Island from the mainland, and is only a hop, skip and a jump from Brisbane. Views of the Glasshouse Mountains from the water are fabulous! We just headed up for the day, but there's a lovely campsite right on the beach which is only accessible by boat. Beware of the numerous sandmonsters (giant bull ants) though!


Visting Green Mountains is like entering another world. Forming part of the scenic rim, this area is a remnant of an ancient shield volcano. The drive up the escarpment is wonderfully dramatic. The vegetation suddenly changes from dry eucalypt forest to sub-tropical rainforest, and hidden away are groves of antarctic beech trees, festooned with mosses and ferns. One highlight for me was seeing a regent bowerbird for the first time. These stunning birds congregate every morning for feeding time at O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse.

Mt Barney is a bushwalker's paradise. Although not the highest peak in South East Queensland (that honour goes to Mt Superbus), it is certainly the most spectacular. At 1359m, the mountain is often obscured by cloud, so we made sure to choose a beautiful clear day. Joel had been to the summit twice previously in wild, wet weather and hadn't seen a thing. We climbed up via the South-East ridge, which is almost knife edge thin in places. It's rugged country, and I soon felt horrendously unfit as we trudged up the steep slope. But the views were definitely worth the effort. This photo, taken from near the top, looks out towards Mt Lindesay, another awesome-looking volcanic plug.




In June, we were privileged to spend a weekend sailing around Moreton Bay on our friend's lovely boat, Anitra. It was the first time she'd been out on the bay since having some major renovations done. The feeling of unfurling the sails and cutting the motor for the first time was truly amazing. I'd never sailed anywhere before and the whole experience was quite thrilling. We watched a beautiful sunset over the bay and spent plenty of time lazing, swimming and eating.









The Bunya mountains in the middle of winter was our substitute for snow camping this year! And yes, we did use our down jackets again. It was surprisingly cold overnight, but of course a great excuse to enjoy a roaring campfire. Nevertheless we turned in soon after 7pm, there's nothing better than snuggling in a tent on a cold winter's night! The next day we were still finding ice in hollows beside the trail well after midday.



To celebrate Joel's 30th birthday we planned to walk the Great Walk on Fraser Island. Our preparations were almost thwarted at the last minute by some wild weather on the Fraser Coast. At 10pm on the evening before our departure, we were notified by the parks authorities that the whole island was closed until further notice. What should we do?! Well, we decided to go anyway.

Our friends Andrei and Susannah were flying in to Hervey Bay that morning, so we drove up to meet them at the airport and commiserate together. While our friends took a whale watching tour the following day, Joel and I defied the regulations and started off on our walk. There had been over 800mm of rain recorded in a single day, but being a sand island the water soaked straight through, and even storm damage was barely noticible on the western side of the island. In some respects, that first day was the best. The island was still officially closed, so there were no 4WD tours to contend with, and we were lucky enough to have beautiful Lake McKenzie to ourselves.

After meeting our friends the next day we spent another 5 days wandering on sandy tracks that wound through heathland, tall satinay trees, pockets of palm forest and crystal clear waters. Each night we camped beside a lake, all of which were quite unique in their colouring and character. A memorable evening was spent on the lookout over Lake Wabby, watching a lunar eclipse with a crazy German traveller. Our walk finished at Happy Valley, where we spent a couple of lazy days eating steak and chips at the Satinay Bar and Bistro.

We chose a nice rainy day to visit the Lower Portals near Mt Barney. This name refers to a spot on Mt Barney Creek where granite walls squeeze the creek through a narrow opening. As the gorge opens out again, it forms a great summer swimming hole. With lots of rain in the past few months, water levels were high and the vegetation was lush and glossy. We had a quick dip and some lunch before retracing our footsteps in the misty rain.





Later in the summer we discovered a lovely campsite on the Main Range, only an hour or so from home, called Spicer's Gap. We didn't have an adequate map to attempt the rough walk to Spicer's Peak, but instead chose to hike up nearby Mt Mitchell. This easy graded trail leads to a stunning summit crowned with grass trees and antarctic beech. Panoramic views reveal the folded fabric of the Main Range to the north and south, and lots of interesting peaks further east.






Bald Rock is actually just over the border in NSW, but I reckon it's so close it still counts! It adjoins Girraween National Park, and forms part of the same granite belt. This massive slab of rock dominates the landscape and provides lots of fun scrambling opportunities. It also provides lots of rocky shelves and small crevices where the Cunningham's skinks love to hide. As you can see, we had some fun with the timer function on Joel's camera!

And so ends my first year in Brisbane. Looking back on all the awesome places we've visited and fantastic experiences we've had in the past 12 months, I can't help but feel satisfied that we've made the most of our new surroundings. There is certainly a lack of familiar faces amongst these pictures though, and I've struggled a lot with the feeling of distance and separation from my friends and family. The new year will bring lots of new adventures though, not least of which is my impending marriage in April to the love of my life!